Peter Flanagan

As happy little four year olds start their journey of education in Kinders across Melbourne and Victoria, parents who are trying to do their bit for the environment, or avoid being stuck in peak hour traffic by taking kids by public transport, are being left wondering why a child who is the same age but at primary school pays less to travel than their child. Further, why do Victorian 4 years olds even need a ticket in the first place when other states don't require kids to have a ticket until they are five.

Public Transport Not Traffic believe this is a policy anomaly that needs to be fixed. If you agree, please sign our petition and share it with other families who would agree.

343 signatures

To the Victorian Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan,

Residents of Victoria draw to your attention the ticketing policy anomaly that requires four year olds to hold a valid Myki card, however does not extend the same annual student discounts to children attending approved kindergarten programs.

A child of four or five years old attending a primary school can apply for a yearly discounted 'student pass' of $546 where as a child attending registered kinder has to pay $1.90 per trip or $3.90 per day because the discounted annual student pass ticket is not available for parents to purchase.

Many kindergartens require children to attend at least three days a week and if attending long day care this will often be more, but a chid attending an average of three days a week would pay $608 a year paying over $60 more than the discounted ticket. Resulting in children who attend kinder three days a week paying more than those attending primary school five days a weekend possibly even the same age.

We believe this is both inherently unfair and actively discourages parents from using public transport to get to and from kinder, or for incidental trips on weekends and days off.

Additionally in other Australian cities children aren't required to have a valid ticket until they are five or older, putting Victoria out of step with the rest of the country. It is only Melbourne and Sydney who choose to charge four year olds.

Therefore, residents of the State of Victoria call on the Minister for Public transport and the Victorian Government to fix these policy anomalies and not discriminate against children due to their age and the type of education they are receiving and;

Bring Victorian children’s ticketing in line with other Australian states and lift the age for holding a valid ticket to children aged five and over, and

Extend the student discounted tickets to children attending a registered Kindergarten programs.

Living in inner city Sydney, Malcolm Turnbull enjoys the benefits of frequent and reliable public transport, so much so he finds it impractical to drive. In contrast most Australians don't have access to any decent public transport services and as a result have to face the congested roads day in day out.

Mr Turnbull knows that only an efficient public transport system will get our cities moving and so has a responsibility to all Victorians to immediately fund public transport.

Take a stand for our future. Sign the petition today.

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722 SIGNATURES

GOAL: 1,000 signatures

Dear Prime Minister Turnbull,

The Federal Government’s refusal to fund public transport is preventing state governments from delivering vital infrastructure posing a very real threat to our economy and environment.

Traffic congestion already costs Australian cities $15billion a year.

Without serious investment in public transport 5 million extra cars will be clogging up Melbourne’s roads by 2036.

As has been proven overseas, only an effective mass transit system can cope with the travel needs of our growing population.

We shouldn't be forced to sell off public assets in order to build crucial new transport infrastructure.